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Bean Bag Coffee House adds Somerset location

Bean Bag Coffee House owners Joe and Debbie Morales (right) pose with employees LaDonna DesJardin (left) and Debbie Peterson at their new Somerset coffee house location. (Photo by Jordan Willi)

Getting into the coffee shop business hadn’t always been the plan for Heidi’s Hallmark owners Joe and Debbie Morales, but after the success of their first Bean Bag Coffee House location in New Richmond, the couple decided it made sense to open a second coffee shop.

“[The coffee house] was just another unique business that we became a part of...and it is something that has been fun because it is a change from what we have been doing,” Joe said.

The Morales’, who own the Heidi’s Hallmark stores in New Richmond and Hudson, didn’t have to think very long before Somerset became the obvious choice for their new coffee house.

“We had been talking to people [from Somerset] who have been encouraging us to come here for almost a year now,” Joe said. “The encouragement we were getting from the people of Somerset was overwhelming. Everybody we talked to couldn’t wait for a coffee shop to come back here.”

While the couple was looking for the ideal location for their new shop, the Bridge Bible Church approached Joe and Debbie with the idea of putting the coffee house in one of the churches’ empty storefronts at its new Somerset building complex on Rivard Street.

“The location had the right setup for a coffee house,” Debbie said. “It had zero of the equipment of course, but it had everything else we want to have in a coffee house/restaurant.”

The potential location also had one other advantage that the Morales’ found appealing for their second coffee house: a daycare center right next door.

“It is really nice to have a daycare center right next to you where you have parents dropping off their kids every morning because those people are the perfect costumers for us,” Joe said. “And, obviously, the church has their services on Sunday, although Sundays are usually one of the slower days for a coffee shop. But that clientele being here does accent our business and give us a new group of people to serve too on a slow day.”

Once they secured their new location, the Morales’ brought in brand new, top of the line equipment to give their customers the best quality drinks, food and experience they can have.

“We have been getting a real great response from the community for our food and everything else,” Joe said. “It is great to watch people try our food for the first time and just light up after they have their first bite.”

For the Morales’, the crowning joy of the new location is a brand new, state-of-the-art water filtration system which enhances the quality of their beverages and foods.

“One of the big things is that we make sure that our water purification system is top notch, so every cup of coffee and the ice we make is highly filtered,” Joe said. “Our roasting company makes sure our filters are changed to maintain the highest quality of water going into our coffee.”

Bean Bag also boasts freshly roasted coffee beans that make it to the store very quickly after the roasting process.

“The beans are roasted to our order and we get them within 24 hours of when they are roasted, which means they are as fresh as they can be,” Joe said. “From there, we leave things up to our great staff here to take that great water and that great coffee bean and make that coffee for our customers. I think that is what is making people come back and tell their friends about us.”

The Somerset Bean Bag Coffee House has been open since Aug. 9, but the Morales’ are planning to hold the store’s grand opening at the end of October.

“We have a great staff and there is no way we could do everything with all the locations we have without great people working for us.” Joe said. “The store has been exceeding our expectations. And that is without even having a sign or having done any advertising for it yet.”

Jordan Willi is a reporter for the New Richmond News. Previously, he worked as a sports reporter at the Worthington Daily Globe in Worthington, Minnesota. He also interned at the Hudson Star Observer for two summers and contributed to the Bison Illustrated sports magazine at North Dakota State University.